Steinmeier at the Leipzig Book Fair

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Leipzig Book Fair on Thursday. Alongside a number of publishers, Steinmeier visited the stands of Ukraine and the guest country duo of the Netherlands and the Belgian region of Flanders, which are presenting themselves as a linguistic community.

At Ukraine's stand, the Federal President was welcomed by Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Director General of the National Museum of Art and Culture in Kiev, Fair Director Astrid Böhmisch and the Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert, among others.

"It is important to support Ukrainian artists, they stand for European identity," said Ebert. Böhmisch emphasized that Ukraine is fighting for freedom and culture in the country. This will be the subject of many events during the book fair.

In the evening, Steinmeier wanted to discuss the state of democracy with the writer Anne Rabe and the author Marcel Beyer in Leipzig.